Album Review: Ball Park Music - Good Mood

Brisbane favourites Ball Park Music's latest album is their most playful and ambitious record yet.

After the introspection of their previous effort, Every Night The Same Dream, the five-piece's ecstatically titled fifth album seems to share more in common with the indie band's earlier work, reasserting the idea that it really is nice to be alive.

The album sets expectations high from the first moments, as the words, "Experience incredible music, yes!" reverberate through the speakers, right before lead singer Sam Cromack starts singing about nuclear apocalypse and the end of the world.

The pariah perspective Cromack established on the band's previous record is here further developed and applied to the world around him as he explores the American spectacle on The End Times and Dreaming Of America, even turning the critical eye in on himself during Hands Off My Body when he sings, "I didn't like my tongue, I never did, it said nothing but anxious shit."

At its best, the songwriting on the record draws attention to meaninglessness in the world while still maintaining a sincere affection for its baffling nature. The resulting catharsis is one that feels grounded in realism and optimism, despite a few uneven tracks.